Boeing's Dreamliner 787 Takes Off

[LaoPo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fucq5BoEfEI

Boeing's revolutionary lightweight 787 Dreamliner took to the skies for the first time, marking a new era in air transport as it became the largest passenger jet to fly made mostly of composite materials.

Reuters Video.

LaoPo

[bangkokjoe]

Love that wing flex, The flight was cut a little short by weather moving in, but a real good test anyways.

Next 1st test flight, the 747-800, coming up in the few weeks or so.

[rfukata]

UPDATE (4:45 p.m. ET): The 787 Dreamliner has landed at Boeing Field in Seattle after a three-hour test flight. The flight was cut short by about an hour due to deteriorating weather conditions in the area.

UPDATE (1:35 p.m. ET): "Pilots Michael Carriker and Randall Neville lifted off at about 10:30 a.m. PST from Everett's Paine Field on a four-hour flight over Washington state to perform a variety of basic tests and systems checks before landing at Seattle's Boeing Field," AP writes.

UPDATE (1:23 p.m. ET): The Dreamliner is taxiing and preparing for flight.

Today is the day aviation buffs have been waiting for since 2007, when Boeing's Dreamliner aircraft was originally scheduled to fly its test flight. The long-awaited test flight of the 787 is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET today. The aircraft will take off from Everett's Paine Field and land at Boeing Field in Seattle.

"The test aircraft completed its ground tests during the weekend, including a 150-mph dash down the runway at Everett's Paine Field during which its nose gear briefly lifted off the pavement," The Associated Press writes. "Tuesday morning, pilots Michael Carriker and Randall Neville hope to take the 787 on a four-hour flight over Washington state, beginning the extensive flight test program needed to obtain the plane's Federal Aviation Administration certification."

WEBCAST: Boeing's website is now live streaming the flight

Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokesman Jim Proulx told AP that several factors are key for test-flight day: good visibility, no standing water at the two airports and gentle or no wind. Proulx added that it was raining 15 years ago when Boeing's 777 took its first flight.

According to AP, National Weather Service meteorologist Ted Buehner said "Tuesday's forecast called for rain, 10 mph winds and a cloud ceiling at about 1,500 feet, said — nothing to prevent a modern jetliner from flying."

Today's scheduled first flight will mark the beginning of the test flight program that must be completed to obtain FAA certification. Today's aircraft is one of six that will be used in testing which is expected to last nine months.

Boeing has 840 orders for the new aircraft which can hold up to 330 passengers and has previously announced plans to deliver the first one by the end of 2010.

"Our pilots told me the airplane performed beautifully," said Mike Delaney, vice president and chief project engineer for the 787, in a statement. "We're going through and analyzing the data to ensure we're ready for first flight. From evaluations we've done so far, everything looks good.

[rfukata]

Love that wing flex, The flight was cut a little short by weather moving in, but a real good test anyways.

Next 1st test flight, the 747-800, coming up in the few weeks or so.

The modified 747-800/900 series is another piece of art. Mean and lean - with its longer fuselage, new wing design,

better engines, better configuration, this plane will well become the favorite passenger aircraft.

[Ricardo]

Good to see it finally fly, I'm sure it will be a commercial & environmental improvement, on the old 1960s-designed clunkers still flying in less-developed parts of the world, we need this competition with Airbus to drive development forwards.

[LaoPo]

Love that wing flex, The flight was cut a little short by weather moving in, but a real good test anyways.

Next 1st test flight, the 747-800, coming up in the few weeks or so.

The modified 747-800/900 series is another piece of art. Mean and lean - with its longer fuselage, new wing design,

better engines, better configuration, this plane will well become the favorite passenger aircraft.

http://www.newairplane.com/787/ Dreamliner 787 info

http://787firstflight.newairplane.com/ffindex.html The live webcast of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner - The First Flight of the 787

and the:

http://www.newairplane.com/747/ 747-8 series

LaoPo

[neverdie]

Looked wonderful as it landed, very majestic.

[mackayae]

No barrel roll?

[jayjayjayjay]

Love that wing flex, The flight was cut a little short by weather moving in, but a real good test anyways.

Next 1st test flight, the 747-800, coming up in the few weeks or so.

The modified 747-800/900 series is another piece of art. Mean and lean - with its longer fuselage, new wing design,

better engines, better configuration, this plane will well become the favorite passenger aircraft.

Any aerospace engineers out there? Why can't Boeing extend the double level future back the plane? It seems to be the main restriction which obviously requires complete re-engineering of the critical fuselage area round the wings. This is as far as my assumptions go, but would be interested to have a professionals explanation.

[Groongthep]

+

Edited December 16, 2009 by Groongthep

[bkkjames]

Love that wing flex, The flight was cut a little short by weather moving in, but a real good test anyways.

Next 1st test flight, the 747-800, coming up in the few weeks or so.

The modified 747-800/900 series is another piece of art. Mean and lean - with its longer fuselage, new wing design,

better engines, better configuration, this plane will well become the favorite passenger aircraft.

Any aerospace engineers out there? Why can't Boeing extend the double level future back the plane? It seems to be the main restriction which obviously requires complete re-engineering of the critical fuselage area round the wings. This is as far as my assumptions go, but would be interested to have a professionals explanation.

While we wait for the Engineers to fill us in, I do recall that in the 60's or 70's when they toyed with the 747, they looked at a double decker but because the materials used at that time were not as efficient as those today (too heavy) they couldn't make it work.

[neverdie]

No barrel roll?

Now that was a test flight. Not sure how it would be received in todays day and age tho.

[skippybangkok]

"Our pilots told me the airplane performed beautifully,"

Errr.........what other answer would one expect.

Interesting wings though !

[Thongkorn]

Would be interesting to know which Engines that are fitted, maybe they will change them to see if any improvements can be made , would it be better with Rolls Royce Engines. just a thought not a flame or a dig at a fantastic plane.

[bangkokjoe]

Would be interesting to know which Engines that are fitted, maybe they will change them to see if any improvements can be made , would it be better with Rolls Royce Engines. just a thought not a flame or a dig at a fantastic plane.

They used Rolls Royce on this flight, and they will also be using GE's.

[SM7WGP]

Have to cut it short" Weather Coming up.

Very nice plane that cant handle bad weather, I would not fly with that.

[kosh]

Would be interesting to know which Engines that are fitted, maybe they will change them to see if any improvements can be made , would it be better with Rolls Royce Engines. just a thought not a flame or a dig at a fantastic plane.

No winglets? KLM has retrofitted every airbus and boeing plane with very long winglets at the end of the wings..

3% fuel savings....and they look like starwars fighther

[bkkjames]

Have to cut it short" Weather Coming up.

Very nice plane that cant handle bad weather, I would not fly with that.

Give it a rest mate, the low clouds and rain in Seattle area this time of year are not the things you look for when you are trying to "observe" a maiden flight.

[Ricardo]

No winglets? KLM has retrofitted every airbus and boeing plane with very long winglets at the end of the wings..

3% fuel savings....and they look like starwars fighther

If you look closely at the Youtube-clip, I believe those funny things sticking-up on the ends of each wing, may indeed be winglets which are very necessary to fuel-efficiency, these days.

[bangkokjoe]

Looks like 787 #2, (ZA002) may be making its first flight Tuesday (Dec. 21st), weather permitting . Not sure what time yet, I'm thinking around the same time as #1 (10:00 hrs. PST) or so. As far as winglets go, they were installed on existing aircraft to improve performance. I doubt the 787 will ever be fitted with any type of winglet as the wings are a totally new design, claiming 20% better performance over existing designs. Cheers.

[Spee]

Love that wing flex, The flight was cut a little short by weather moving in, but a real good test anyways.

Next 1st test flight, the 747-800, coming up in the few weeks or so.

The modified 747-800/900 series is another piece of art. Mean and lean - with its longer fuselage, new wing design,

better engines, better configuration, this plane will well become the favorite passenger aircraft.

Any aerospace engineers out there? Why can't Boeing extend the double level future back the plane? It seems to be the main restriction which obviously requires complete re-engineering of the critical fuselage area round the wings. This is as far as my assumptions go, but would be interested to have a professionals explanation.

I happened to be in a roomful of Boeing directors and executives last weekend. Needless to say, there was a lot of both confidence and nervousness regarding the maiden flight. Glad to see all went well.

Boeing looked at the double-decker concept back in the late 1960's and made a business decision that there wasn't a big enough market for it. Given that almost 40 years went by with their 747 and 777 being two of the long haul aircraft of choice, one would think they made the right decision.

It is important to keep in mind that Airbus has yet to prove that the A380 will be a profitable venture over the long run. Carriers have yet to prove they can sell enough seats to make the A380 viable. One of the few markets where the A380 could succeed (IMHO), is in the Japanese commuter market, where stuffing 500 passengers on to a 747 for a domestic commuter flight is commonplace.

Boeing has yet to prove that the 787 will last over the long haul. One of the Boeing execs that I was talking with, who also comes from an engineering background, says that he has full confidence that the design and constructure are sound. His fear lies with airport ground crews who may bump into and cause damage to a composite surface with reporting it, or without any visible sign of damage. He told me all kinds of stories about ground crews damaging flaps, landing gear, gear doors, etc.

[bkk_mike]

It is important to keep in mind that Airbus has yet to prove that the A380 will be a profitable venture over the long run. Carriers have yet to prove they can sell enough seats to make the A380 viable. One of the few markets where the A380 could succeed (IMHO), is in the Japanese commuter market, where stuffing 500 passengers on to a 747 for a domestic commuter flight is commonplace.

And this is one of the reasons that Boeing does a lot of work with Japanese suppliers, so that Japanese airlines will generally pick 747s for this.

I will admit though - I think the 747-8 has got a few freighter orders (the A380 freighter orders all got cancelled, so airbus has postponed building any), but the 747-8 is way behind the A380 in orders for aircraft for passengers.

(If you look at the specs - the A380 can carry up to 70% more passengers than a 747 (fortunately most aren't set up all-economy) - but the freighter variant can only carry about 20% more transport pallets, and if there's anyone that cares about getting their money's worth out of a plane, it would be fedex/dhl/ups...)

[bangkokjoe]

Looks like #2 is going up at 08:45 Seattle time (Dec 22). It looks good for the weather, but you never know up there in Seattle. It is painted in the ANA colors, but it will not be delivered to them because of the wing box changes made, something to do with excess weight from that. I guess the delivered models will have the weight issues worked out. Also, not sure yet, but #1 may go up again before x-mas.